The President will establish the Office of Homeland Security that will be headed
by the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security -- Governor Tom Ridge.

The mission of the Office will be to develop and coordinate the implementation
of a comprehensive national strategy to secure the United States from terrorist
threats or attacks. The Office will coordinate the executive branch's efforts to
detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from
terrorist attacks within the United States.

National Strategy

The Office will work with executive departments and agencies, state and local
governments, and private entities to ensure the adequacy of the national
strategy for detecting, preparing for, preventing, protecting against,
responding to, and recovering from terrorist threats or attacks within the
United States and will periodically review and coordinate revisions to that
strategy as necessary.

Detection

The Office will identify priorities and coordinate efforts for collection and
analysis of information within the United States regarding threats of terrorism
against the United States and activities of terrorists or terrorist groups
within the United States. The Office will also identify, in coordination with
the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, priorities for
collection of intelligence outside the United States regarding threats of
terrorism within the United States. The Office will work with federal, state,
and local agencies to:

facilitate collection from state and local governments and private entities of
information pertaining to terrorist threats or activities within the United
States;

coordinate and prioritize the requirements for foreign intelligence relating
to terrorism within the United States of executive departments and agencies
responsible for homeland security, and provide these requirements and priorities
to the Director of Central Intelligence and other agencies responsible for
collection of foreign intelligence;

coordinate efforts to ensure that all executive departments and agencies that
have intelligence collection responsibilities have sufficient technological
capabilities and resources to collect intelligence and data relating to
terrorist activities or possible terrorist acts within the United States,
working with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, as
appropriate;

coordinate development of monitoring protocols and equipment for use in
detecting the release of biological, chemical, and radiological hazards; and

ensure that, to the extent permitted by law, all appropriate and necessary
intelligence and law enforcement information relating to homeland security is
disseminated to and exchanged among appropriate executive departments and
agencies responsible for homeland security and, where appropriate for reasons of
homeland security, promote exchange of such information with and among state and
local governments and private entities.

Preparedness

The Office of Homeland Security will coordinate national efforts to prepare for
and mitigate the consequences of terrorist threats or attacks within the United
States. In performing this function, the Office will work with federal, state,
and local agencies, and private entities to:

review and assess the adequacy of the portions of all federal emergency
response plans that pertain to terrorist threats or attacks within the United
States;

coordinate domestic exercises and simulations designed to assess and practice
systems that would be called upon to respond to a terrorist threat or attack
within the United States and coordinate programs and activities for training
federal, state, and local employees who would be called upon to respond to such
a threat or attack;

coordinate national efforts to ensure public health preparedness for a
terrorist attack, including reviewing vaccination policies and reviewing the
adequacy of and, if necessary, increasing vaccine and pharmaceutical stockpiles
and hospital capacity;

coordinate federal assistance to state and local authorities and
non-governmental organizations to prepare for and respond to terrorist threats
or attacks within the United States;

ensure that national preparedness programs and activities for terrorist
threats or attacks are developed and are regularly evaluated under appropriate
standards and that resources are allocated to improving and sustaining
preparedness based on such evaluations; and

ensure the readiness and coordinated deployment of federal response teams to
respond to terrorist threats or attacks, working with the Assistant to the
President for National Security Affairs, when appropriate.

Prevention

The Office will coordinate efforts to prevent terrorist attacks within the
United States. In performing this function, the Office shall work with federal,
state, and local agencies, and private entities to:

facilitate the exchange of information among such agencies relating to
immigration and visa matters and shipments of cargo; and, working with the
Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, ensure coordination
among such agencies to prevent the entry of terrorists and terrorist materials
and supplies into the United States and facilitate removal of such terrorists
from the United States, when appropriate;

coordinate efforts to investigate terrorist threats and attacks within the
United States; and

coordinate efforts to improve the security of United States borders,
territorial waters, and airspace in order to prevent acts of terrorism within
the United States, working with the Assistant to the President for
National
Security Affairs, when appropriate.

Protection

The Office will coordinate efforts to protect the United States and its critical
infrastructure from the consequences of terrorist attacks. In performing this
function, the Office shall work with federal, state, and local agencies, and
private entities to:

strengthen measures for protecting energy production, transmission, and
distribution services and critical facilities; other utilities;
telecommunications; facilities that produce, use, store, or dispose of nuclear
material; and other critical infrastructure services and critical facilities
within the United States from terrorist attack;

coordinate efforts to protect critical public and privately owned information
systems within the United States from terrorist attack;

develop criteria for reviewing whether appropriate security measures are in
place at major public and privately owned facilities within the United States;

coordinate domestic efforts to ensure that special events determined by
appropriate senior officials to have national significance are protected from
terrorist attack;

coordinate efforts to protect transportation systems within the United States,
including railways, highways, shipping, ports and waterways, and airports and
civilian aircraft, from terrorist attack;

coordinate efforts to protect United States livestock, agriculture, and
systems for the provision of water and food for human use and consumption from
terrorist attack; and

coordinate efforts to prevent unauthorized access to, development of, and
unlawful importation into the United States of, chemical, biological,
radiological, nuclear, explosive, or other related materials that have the
potential to be used in terrorist attacks.

Response and Recovery

The Office will coordinate efforts to respond to and promote recovery from
terrorist threats or attacks within the United States. In performing this
function, the Office shall work with federal, state, and local agencies, and
private entities to:

coordinate efforts to ensure rapid restoration of transportation systems,
energy production, transmission, and distribution systems; telecommunications;
other utilities; and other critical infrastructure facilities after disruption
by a terrorist threat or attack;

coordinate efforts to ensure rapid restoration of public and private critical
information systems after disruption by a terrorist threat or attack;

work with the National Economic Council to coordinate efforts to stabilize
United States financial markets after a terrorist threat or attack and manage
the immediate economic and financial consequences of the incident;

coordinate federal plans and programs to provide medical, financial, and other
assistance to victims of terrorist attacks and their families; and

coordinate containment and removal of biological, chemical, radiological,
explosive, or other hazardous materials in the event of a terrorist threat or
attack involving such hazards and coordinate efforts to mitigate the effects of
such an attack.

Incident Management

The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security will be the individual
primarily responsible for coordinating the domestic response efforts of all
departments and agencies in the event of an imminent terrorist threat and during
and in the immediate aftermath of a terrorist attack within the United States
and shall be the principal point of contact for and to the President with
respect to coordination of such efforts. The Assistant to the President for
Homeland Security will coordinate with the Assistant to the President for
National Security Affairs, as appropriate.

Continuity of Government

The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, in coordination with the
Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, will review plans and
preparations for ensuring the continuity of the Federal Government in the event
of a terrorist attack that threatens the safety and security of the United
States Government or its leadership.

Public Affairs

The Office, subject to the direction of the White House Office of
Communications, shall coordinate the strategy of the executive branch for
communicating with the public in the event of a terrorist threat or attack
within the United States. The Office also will coordinate the development of
programs for educating the public about the nature of terrorist threats and
appropriate precautions and responses.

Review of Legal Authorities and Development of Legislative Proposals

The Office will coordinate a periodic review and assessment of the legal
authorities available to executive departments and agencies to permit them to
perform the functions described in this order. When the Office determines that
such legal authorities are inadequate, the Office will develop, in consultation
with executive departments and agencies, proposals for presidential action and
legislative proposals for submission to the
Office of Management and Budget to
enhance the ability of executive departments and agencies to perform those
functions. The Office will work with state and local governments in assessing
the adequacy of their legal authorities to permit them to detect, prepare for,
prevent, protect against, and recover from terrorist threats and attacks.

Budget Review

The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, in consultation with the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the heads of executive
departments and agencies, will identify programs that contribute to the
Administration's strategy for homeland security and, in the development of the
President's annual budget submission, shall review and provide advice to the
heads of departments and agencies for such programs. The Assistant to the
President for Homeland Security will provide advice to the Director on the level
and use of funding in departments and agencies for homeland security-related
activities and, prior to the Director's forwarding of the proposed annual budget
submission to the President for transmittal to Congress, will certify to the
Director the funding levels that the Assistant to the President for Homeland
Security believes are necessary and appropriate for the homeland
security-related activities of the executive branch.

Administration

The Office of Homeland Security will be directed by the Assistant to the
President for Homeland Security. The Office of Administration within the
Executive Office of the President shall provide the Office of Homeland Security
with such personnel, funding, and administrative support, to the extent
permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, as directed
by the Chief of Staff to carry out the provisions of this order.

Heads of executive departments and agencies are authorized, to the extent
permitted by law, to detail or assign personnel of such departments and agencies
to the Office of Homeland Security upon request of the Assistant to the
President for Homeland Security, subject to the approval of the Chief of Staff.

The Homeland Security Council

The President's Executive Order establishes a Homeland Security Council which
will be responsible for advising and assisting the President with respect to all
aspects of homeland security. The Council will serve as the mechanism for
ensuring coordination of homeland security-related activities of executive
departments and agencies and effective development and implementation of
homeland security policies.

The Council will meet at the President's direction. When the President is absent
from a meeting of the Council, at the President's direction the Vice President
may preside. The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security will be
responsible, at the President's direction, for determining the agenda, ensuring
that necessary papers are prepared, and recording Council actions and
Presidential decisions.